Tutorial on Systems Thinking
Glossary
Drivers: Socio-economic sectors that fulfill human needs and drive human activities, often leading to intentional or unintentional changes in ecosystems. Drivers and how Drivers are fulfilled are affected if changes are made to alter human activities for protection of ecosystems.
Ecosystem Services: Functions and products of the ecosystem that benefit humans in the short term or long term. Services depend on the attributes of the ecosystem.
Impact: Changes in the quality and functioning of the ecosystem have an impact on the welfare (well-being) of humans. Services are the benefits that ecosystems can provide, and their value depends on human need and use (e.g., market value).
Pressures: Human activities that exert positive or negative pressure on ecosystems.
Response: Humans make decisions in response to perceived value. Ecosystem values are too often ignored in decisions because they are viewed as ‘free’ and ‘limitless’. Ecosystem services should change perceptions of value and alter human responses, which can create changes in drivers and pressures.
Socio-economic sector: Classifications of the economy. Derived from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
State: Status of the environmental (physical & chemical) and ecological (biological) components of the ecosystem. Physical, biological, and chemical processes interact to affect different structures (chemicals, species) that can be measured by their attributes. Attributes are characteristics that contribute to ecosystem services. Environmental processes can also affect drivers and pressures, e.g. drought influencing agriculture or storm events influencing non-point source pollution.
Stressors: A generic term referring to human pressures or natural physical & chemical parameters that can cause changes in Ecological State.
Value: The economic, cultural, or ecological value of the services. Values depend on the attributes of the state and characteristics of the drivers and pressures. For example, corals can provide shoreline protection, but the value depends on the frequency of hurricanes and the number of hotels/houses near the coast and the market value of those structures. Values, in turn, can affect the drivers and pressures. For example, fish biomass can sustain fisheries and influence ship-building.